Boeing Jets Higher to Help the Dow Soar to Hundred-Point Gain

The Dow Jones finishes off a great week in a big way despite Nike's earnings-related fall.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What a week the markets have had! After earlier gains following the Federal Reserve's tapering announcement, stocks are roaring to a huge week-closing day today, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES:^DJI) has surged more than 100 points as of 2:30 p.m. EST. Most of the Dow's 30 members are in the green today, led by Boeing's (NYSE:BA)1.8% gain. Nike(NYSE:NKE), on the other hand, hasn't been able to find any traction, falling around 1.2% in the wake of today's quarterly earnings report from the athletic goods giant. Let's catch up on everything you need to know.

Boeing keeps flying higherIt's been hard to stop Boeing in the second half of this year, and investors of this aerospace titan received more welcome news today as the company inked a $7.5 billion deal with Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airlines for 21 777X jets -- the first foray of Boeing's new aircraft into Asia. It's a great sign for Boeing investors as the Asian airline market is booming, particularly in Southeast Asia as of late.

Boeing only began trotting out orders for the 777X aircraft at this year's Dubai Airshow, but it picked up roughly $95 billion worth of commitments there alone. The 777X should also help Boeing counter Airbus' growing clout in the wide-body airliner market as well, as the 777X is larger than Airbus's rival A350. Throw in growing orders for the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's future in the civilian aircraft market can't look any brighter here at the end of 2013.

Nike's not looking so bright today as its stock drags despite legitimately good data from the company's most recent quarter. The athletic goods giant posted a 40% gain in fiscal second-quarter net income, and earnings managed to beat out analyst projections. However, revenue still missed analyst predictions despite gaining 8% year over year for the quarter.

Despite that slip, Nike investors have a big reason to love the latest results: China. Nike's fallen off in recent quarters in the world's second-largest economy, but the company pulled in a tough rebound in the quarter by boosting China sales by 5%. Nike even managed to keep up its European momentum, growing western European sales by 12%. With global future orders for Nike goods also booming in the second quarter, the earnings are no reason for a stock decline, even despite shares' impressive year-to-date gains. This company's moving ahead strongly and looks settled into the pole position in its industry for some time to come.